The Idea Behind the Little Green DotĪs far as the feature goes, we’ve seen it on other social network platforms before, so it’s not that revolutionary. Getting out of that one will need a little more effort than saying that your phone was charging at the time. That’s not a bad thing necessarily, but it can be if some of your friends misuse it to stalk you.Īnother potentially bad side to the green dot is the fact that you won’t be able to delay a reply because the other side knows that you are active. With this new activity feature, you and all of your friends will be able to track when someone is online. It’s a way of prioritizing your friends while leaving the other, less important followers at the bottom of the friends’ list. The dot activates only when the platform recognizes that both parties know each other, which is useful especially if you’re a celeb or a business owner. Imagine the headache they’d get if everyone knew when they were using the app. Instagram is a platform used by everyone, including celebrities. It may seem that this way of connecting doesn’t make much sense, but it actually does. The feature was introduced in mid-July 2018, and users have been divided on whether it’s more confusing than useful. That’s because both parties have to follow each other for it to work.īut wait, that’s not all, as you also have to have exchanged a couple of messages with someone to be able to see their online status. Even if you follow someone on Instagram, you won’t be able to see the little green dot that tells you when the person is online.